Searching apparatus and a method of searching

ABSTRACT

A search engine at a service provider is configured to identify commercial suppliers in response to a keyword specified by a user. Keywords are received and searches are performed on an index database to identify displayable text items. Images are stored in the form of commercially relevant graphical images such as logos. A logo is linked to each item of displayable text and an output list is produced in which each text item includes a displayable graphical image. The system may store different image formats to allow the graphical images to be displayed on a variety of platforms.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to searching and in particular relates tosearching apparatus configured to identify commercial suppliers inresponse to a specified key word.

2. Description of the Related Art

Search engines that facilitate the searching of available data that maybe supplied in electronic form are well known. Initially, these searchengines were established by academic institutions and were configuredprimarily to disseminate research information and similar studies.

More recently, searching activities of this type have been deployed inmore commercial environments. In particular, in response to a user'srequest for commercial information, possibly identifying suppliers ofparticular goods or services, search engines are known that can providea list of suppliers that are available to provide goods or services ofthe requested type.

When services of this type have been implemented using internettechnology, it is common practice for the search results to be providedto a user without charge, thereby remaining consistent with otherinternet activities. Thus, a search engine may provide a list ofcontacts in the form of a web page having links to supplier's websitesetc. When a user accesses a supplier's website via the search material,the search provider obtains information to this effect. The serviceprovider is then in a position to submit a charge to the advertisingsupplier based on the number of hits that have taken place. It istherefore advantageous from the service provider's perspective for theservice to be used and for many hits to occur. A problem with thisapproach is that the information provided by known search engines makesthe information available in a relatively dry form and as such users areless encouraged to make active use of the service and are not attractedto particular suppliers. Furthermore, the user is often presented withlong lists of data from which it is often very time consuming andtedious to selected a desired supplier's web site.

It is an object of the present invention to at least substantiallyreduce or overcome the above described problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is providedSearching apparatus configured to identify commercial suppliers inresponse to a specified keyword, the apparatus comprising: input meansarranged to receive an input keyword; searching means configured tosearch a database indexed with respect to specified keywords to identifydisplayable text items related to said input keyword, each itemregarding one of said commercial suppliers; image storage means arrangedto store graphical images, each graphical image identifying a commercialsupplier; linking means configured to link each stored graphical imagewith a respective one of the displayable text items; and output meansconfigured to supply data defining a list of said identified text itemsand any respective linked displayable graphical images selected by saidlinking means.

The present invention provides a rapid recognition of a supplier from alist of textual information by virtue of the provision of a recognisablegraphical image identifying or associated with the supplier. This inturn leads to less browser fatigue when considering search results andmakes searching much easier.

In a preferred embodiment, the input means is a computer, a web enabledtelevision, a mobile telephone or a hand-held computer. Preferably, thesearching means includes a relational database with a plurality ofrelated tables and the image store may be arranged to storerepresentations of logos. Preferably, the logos are stored in aplurality of formats such as those appropriate for a personal computer,a web television, a mobile phone or a hand-held computer or anycombination of these formats.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of searching for details of commercial suppliers, comprisingthe steps of: receiving an input keyword; searching an index of keywordsto identify said input keyword and textural items associated therewith;linking a stored displayable graphical image identifying a commercialsupplier to a respective one of the identified textural items; andproducing an output list of textural items and any respective linkeddisplayable graphical images selected by said linking step.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A presently preferred embodiment of the present invention will now bedescribed by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows an environment connecting a plurality of users over theworld wide web;

FIG. 2 shows procedures implemented within the environment shown in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 details the structure of the service provider identified in FIG.1;

FIG. 4 illustrates operations performed by the service providerillustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 details the structure of the database identified in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates a file directory for graphical images stored withinthe data bank identified in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 illustrates a campaign generation form;

FIG. 8 shows a search request form;

FIG. 9 illustrates a filtered query;

FIG. 10 shows an output image displayed on a computer;

FIG. 11 shows an output image displayed on a web television;

FIG. 12 a shows an output image displayed on a WAP enable mobile phone;and

FIG. 12 b shows an output image display on a handheld computer.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

An environment in which a plurality of users 101 to 105 are connected tothe world wide web 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1. In accordance with httpprotocols, it is possible for users 101 to 105 to generate universalresource locations (URLs) which result in a particular website beinginterrogated and hypertext transfer protocol (http) pages beingreturned.

Many commercial organisations have made use of this environmenttherefore product and service suppliers 111, 112, 113 host electroniccommerce (e-commerce) websites such that, in response to an enquirybeing made to these websites by users 101 to 105 for example, it ispossible for orders to be placed and for commercial transactions to beeffected. A problem exists however in that for transactions of this typeto take place it is necessary for the users 101 to 105 made aware of thespecific URLs for the service and goods suppliers 111 to 113.

To facilitate this activity, service providers, such as service provider121 support search engines. Thus, as an alternative to generating a URLthat contacts a supplier directly, it is possible for a user, such asuser 101, to direct a single URL to the service provider 121 thatincludes specific search terms or keywords. At the service provider, asystem identifies these keywords and performs a search to identifyparticular suppliers that may be able to satisfy the demand expressed bythe users.

Procedures performed within the environment of FIG. 1 are shown in FIG.2. At step 201 the service provider 121 receives data from suppliers 111to 113. As this data is received, a local database is populated at step202. This process is then ongoing as more and more data becomesavailable or is identified by the service provider.

At step 203 a search request is received from a user, such as user 101.At step 204 a search is performed and at step 205 the results of thissearch are returned to the user 101. The user 101 is then in a positionto contact the suppliers 111 to 113 directly. However, when this iseffected via data provided by the service provider 121, the serviceprovider 121 is informed of this so that the service provider is madeaware to the effect that its customers, i.e. the suppliers, havereceived a hit, and may therefore provide the basis for a charge beingsubmitted. Consequently, at step 206 the question is asked as to whetherany more data is to be submitted to the database. When answered in theaffirmative, control is effectively directed to step 201. Alternatively,if answered in the negative, control is directed to 203.

The structure of service provider 121 is detailed in FIG. 3. A centralprocessing unit 301, such as a Pentium III processor, communicates with,for example, 256 megabytes of random access memory 302, CD-reader 303, acommunications interface 304, a backup tape streamer 305 and a ninetygigabyte (for example) disc store 306 over a bus 307. Instructionsexecutable by the central processing unit 301 are read from RAM 302after being installed via a data carrying medium in the form of a CD-ROM308 receivable within the CD-ROM reader 303.

Operations performed by service provider 121 are illustrated in FIG. 4.The service provider effectively provides a searching tool configured toidentify commercial suppliers in response to specified keywords.Keywords defined by a user are supplied as input requests to a searchengine 401. The search engine 401 accesses a database 402 that has beenindexed with respect to specified keywords to identify displayable textitems related to the input keyword or keywords. In addition to supplyingthis text information to a server 403, an image conversion process 404provides a linking mechanism configured to associate or link a graphicalimage received from an image bank 405 to each item of displayable text.Image conversion process 404 in combination with a server 403 provide anoutput mechanism configured to supply data defining the identified textfrom database 402 with associated displayable graphical images selectedfrom image bank 405.

In addition to performing searches, the system shown in FIG. 4 alsoreceives configuration data from suppliers, such as suppliers 111 to113, and this configuration data includes textural matter supplied todatabase 404 and graphical images supplied to image bank 405 under thecontrol of an administration process 406.

In the preferred embodiment, the data stored in database 402 includes atitle relating to a specific product or service or to a particularsupplier. In addition, there is a description of the particular productor service and a URL allowing a web browser to make immediate contactwith the supplier identified by the searching process.

Image bank 405 is preferably arranged to store a commercially relatedgraphic often in the form of a particular supplier's logo. Thus, theprovision of a graphical image bank 405 allows images to be stored forwhich a supplier may have conducted a large and ongoing marketingcampaign so as to make their graphical image or logo familiar to a widerange of users. Thus, the inclusion of this logo in data relating to thecommercial activities of an identified organisation allows the user toidentify a particular supplier more quickly and, in combination withbackground advertising activities, will tend to prompt a user to selector make contact with that organisation to a greater extent than if thelogo or graphical image were not there.

It is appreciated that the representation of graphical images requiresdifferent types of data for their presentation within different types ofplatforms. Image conversion process 404 is therefore not only requiredto combine a graphical image with a textural image received by thesearching process 401 but it is also required to select a particulartype of image dependent upon the nature of the equipment available tothe requesting user. Selecting one of the several differentpre-formatted images for a display device is considerably faster thanthe alternative of converting a standard image to the required format onthe, fly (in real time). This way is preferred because of speed, eventhough the storage capacity requirements for the image bank 405 aregreater.

Prior to combining a graphical image received from image bank 405 withtextural matter received from process 401, it is required that the imageconversion process 404 make reference to the particular type of end userequipment and thereafter select an appropriate image from image bank405. Thus, as shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to select an image fromimage bank 405 appropriate for a standard web browser as indicated at411. Alternatively, an image may be selected that is appropriate forbeing displayed on a web television, as indicated at 412, or a WAPenabled mobile telephone as indicated at 413, or in accordance withprotocols required for other wireless transmission as indicated at 414or in accordance with various protocols associated with handhelddevices, as indicated at 415.

It is to the advantage of the service provider to include details ofmany commercial suppliers thereby making the service provided attractiveto users. Similarly, as a service provider becomes more attractive tousers, there is a greater incentive for suppliers to be included on thedatabase which in turn creates a commercial pressure. Consequently, inorder to sustain the service, the service provider submits a charge tosuppliers and suppliers pay for the privilege of being included on thedatabase.

A searching operation performed by searching, process 401 is capable ofselecting particular entries included in database 402 in response tokeywords supplied by users. In accordance with database terminology,such a process is usually referred to as a filter in that entries thatinclude the particular keyword identified by a user are filteredexclusively such that a list is produced that contains only the entriesfor which the particular keyword is included. Unless specific measuresare included within this process, the ordering of this list will tend todepend upon the order in: which the data was written to the database inthe first place. For some searches, the length of the list could bequite large but recent studies have shown that most users will select aparticular supplier after viewing at most two pages of information Thus,although hundreds of potential suppliers may be selected in response toa particular keyword, it is likely that only the first ten or so entrieswithin a particular filtered search will be of interest to a user.Consequently, a commercial pressure is created not only to be includedbut also to be highly ranked.

Within the environment of database technology, it is possible to orderentries with respect to one or more fields, usually in an ascendingorder, i.e. with the lowest value at the top or in a descending orderwith the highest value at the top. Thus, it is conventional practice toinclude a field within a searched table or query that dictates the orderin which the entries are conveyed to users.

Within the present system, suppliers are invited to bid for theirposition in output listings. In terms of a bid, this may be organised asa fixed amount with, say, a highest bidder paying a fee in the region ofhundreds of thousands of dollars. Alternatively, fees may be charged ona per hit basis. A hit occurs for a particular supplier when the searchresults presented to the user include a textual entry from thatsupplier. Thus, a supplier may bid thirty cents per hit and when theirown website identifier receives a hit, the service provider notes thatanother thirty cents are to be charged to that particular supplier. Suchan approach is often perceived as being preferable in that suppliers arenot required to make any payment unless actual hits are generated.

Consequently, suppliers are invited to bid a per hit charge with respectto each keyword of interest. Thus, for the sake of this example, it isassumed that suppliers 111, 112 and 113 each produce musical instrumentsand each are keen to increase their sales of saxophones. Each aretherefore interested in subscribing to the keyword “saxophone” such thatwhen a user submits the keyword “saxophone” to the searching process,the suppliers 111 to 113 desire their presence to be identified, interms of a title of the products they supply, a brief description and alink to their own website allowing further enquiries or actual orders tobe submitted.

Each of the suppliers 111 to 113 are invited to bid for the privilege ofbeing included on the database and for ranking within the database.Supplier 113 declares that they are not prepared to make a payment forthis privilege, whereas supplier 111 is prepared to pay twenty cents perhit and supplier 112 is prepared to pay forty cents per hit.Consequently, these values are included within database 402 and when asearch is executed with respect to the keyword “saxophone” all entriesusing this keyword will be filtered out and thereafter the entries willbe ordered. Consequently, supplier 112, having made the highest bid,will be presented more highly in the list than supplier 111. At thediscretion of the service provider, supplier 113, who is not prepared topay anything, may or may not be included within the list. If included,supplier 113 will be placed at the bottom of the list.

Database 402 includes a plurality of tables, as illustrated in FIG. 5.These comprise a supplier table 501, a campaign/keywords table 502, adisplay table 503 and an image table 504. Supplier table 501 essentiallyincludes information relating to the specific supplier and is includedprimarily for administration and accounting purposes. Thus, an entry at511 comprises a unique supplier identification, followed by an entry at512 identifying the supplier's name, an entry or entries at 513identifying the supplier's address and an entry at 514 recording abalance, that is to say a totalised amount that should be invoiced tothe supplier, based on filtered hits, at the end of the next accountingperiod. Thus, each time the particular supplier obtains a hit, throughuse of the services provided by service provider 121, the bid amount forthe particular campaign is added to the balance recorded at 514.

Each supplier may express an interest in more than one keyword.Furthermore, the supplier's particular interests may vary from onekeyword to another, reflecting particular marketing campaigns. Thus, itis known that supplier 112 in this example manufactures saxophones butsupplier 112, having an expertise in piping, also supplies piping to theautomotive industries. Supplier 112 appreciates that these representcompletely separate markets and therefore separate campaigns exist foreach of these markets. It is therefore preferable that, in response to asearch being performed, different information is supplied to usersrequesting interests in saxophones compared to users expressinginterests in automotive brake piping.

Service provider 121 has established a system that is sensitive to thispossibility and as such the relationship between a particular supplierand a particular keyword is identified as a campaign. Thus, the totalnumber of campaigns facilitated by the system may be considered as thesum of all keywords multiplied by the number of suppliers expressing aninterest in each of the keywords. Thus, in the example, if each supplier111 to 113 has expressed an interest in three keywords, the total numberof campaigns considered by the system would be nine.

The database system 402 maintains a record of these particular campaignswithin campaign keyword table 502. Consequently, table 502 includes anentry 521 that uniquely identifies the campaign, an entry identifyingthe particular supplier for that campaign at 522, an entry for theparticular keyword of interest at 523 and an entry representing the bid,that is to say, the amount that a supplier is prepared to pay when thekeyword specified at 523 is entered by a user and the service providerreturns information generated by the supplier identified by the supplieridentification at 522.

Database 402 is relational and as such a link 525 confirms that thesupplier identification at 511 is linked to the supplier identificationat 522. Consequently, upon identifying a particular campaign, as aresult of a search being performed, it is possible to relate theinformation contained within table 502 back to the information containedwithin table 501, primarily resulting in further charges beingaccumulated within field 514.

The relationship between tables 501 and 502 defines how keywords aresearched resulting in a list of entries being submitted to a user. Auser then selects a particular entry which then defines a specificcampaign. The link between tables 502 and 501 then allows a particularcampaign to be associated with a particular supplier and for a financialaccrual to be made in the balance entry 514. Thus, although a suppliermay be signed up for several campaigns, when any of these campaigns isselected, a single balance entry at 514 is accumulated.

Display table 503 and image table 504 define the way in whichinformation is selected for submission to users in filtered lists.Specific output information is stored for each campaign therefore table503 and table 504 have a primary key defined by an entry for thecampaign identification, as shown at 531 of table 503 and as shown atentry 541 for table 504. These campaign identifications are related tothe campaign identification at 521 and are thereby relationally linked,as illustrated by link 551 and link 552.

Display table 305 stores textural information, in the form of a titlefield 532, a description field 533 and a URL field 534. When conveyed toa user this textural information is linked to a graphical image, usuallyin the form of a supplier's logo. The graphical image is read from imagebank 405 in response to information received from database 402 and inparticular with respect to information read from image table 504. Imagetable 504 includes references to particular files stored on image bank405. For each campaign, image bank 405 stores a plurality of graphicalimages stored in appropriate formats. In the example shown in FIG. 5,the system is configured to select one of four types of graphical imagesand the particular location of the respective files are stored at 542for the first type of file, a web browser, at location 543 for a secondtype of file, a web television image, at location 544 for a WAP mobilephone and at location 545 for a handheld personal digital assistant.

Thus, in operation, a keyword is detected by the search process 401.Process 401 is then configured to execute a search upon campaign table502 by submitting SQL commands to the database 402. In relativelymodestly sized systems, the searching operation may be performeddynamically as and when required. However, as the amount of dataincreases, it may be preferable to perform background housekeepingoperations to maintain additional indexes such that, in response toparticular keywords being identified, the rate at which data retrievalis performed may be increased significantly. However, as is understoodin the art, the maintaining of these additional indexes does placeadditional strain upon the overall process and therefore a compromisemust be reached in terms of the amount of time taken for a search to beconducted and the amount of background housekeeping performed in orderto make additional indexes available.

For the purposes of this disclosure, it should be understood that anindexing operation non-exclusively includes background pre-preparationof dedicated additional indexes or a dynamic re-indexing of existingtables.

The storage of graphical images within image bank 405 is illustrated inFIG. 6. The data is effectively stored as a file system and the rootdirectory has been identified at 601 as I: Beneath this, there is asub-directory or folder for each particular supplier and in this examplesupplier 111 has a directory illustrated at 602 and supplier 112 has adirectory illustrated at 603.

Within the folder for each supplier, additional folders orsubdirectories are created for each specific campaign. Thus, supplier111 has established a campaign A illustrated at 604, with an additionalcampaign, shown as campaign B at 605. Similarly, supplier 112 hasestablished a campaign C as shown at 606 and campaign D as shown at 607.

Within each of these campaign subdirectories a plurality of files exist,each for a specific image. Thus, campaign A consists of image one shownat 608, image two shown at 609, image three shown at 610 and image fourshown at 611. Similarly, campaign B comprises image five shown at 612,image six shown at 613, image seven shown at 614 and image eight shownat 615. In this example, the first image of a particular campaign may besuitable for being displayed on a conventional web browser running on aPC or similar. The second image is appropriate for being displayed on aweb television system, the third image is suitable for being displayedon a WAP enabled mobile phone and a fourth image is suitable for beingdisplayed on a hand held computer.

Thus, images of this type are included for campaign C, image nine at 616being for a web browser, image ten at 617 being for a web TV, imageeleven at 618 being for a mobile phone and image twelve and 619 beingfor a handheld computer.

Administration process 406 allows new suppliers to register with theservice provider. The administration process 406 also allows existingsuppliers to establish new campaigns and allows existing suppliers tomodify existing campaigns.

In order to establish a campaign, a supplier 112 contacts the serviceprovider 121 over the world wide web 100 using a specific URLestablished for this purpose. In response, supplier 112, having acomputer system 112A and a display monitor 112B receives a campaigngeneration form as illustrated in FIG. 7. In response to receiving theform shown in FIG. 7, displayed on monitor 112B, a supplier is invitedto identify a particular keyword at entry 701. This keyword may beselected from a list of existing keywords or a supplier may wish toestablish a new keyword.

At entry 702, the supplier enters a title and at entry 703 the supplierenters their URL, identifying the website that users will contact inresponse to an identification being made by the searching process.Thereafter, at location 705 a further description is included, up to amaximum number of characters, thereby completing the textural content ofthe particular entry for the particular campaign under consideration.

Entry 706 allows a file to be identified representing the supplier'slogo. It is possible for a supplier to identify the location of a filedirectly or, in accordance with established windows com protocols, abrowse button 707 may be selected resulting in a box being displayedshowing a representation of the local file system and allowing aparticular graphical file to be selected. Thereafter, details from theform may be submitted back to the service provider 121 by operation ofsubmit button 708 or the form may be cleared by operation of resetbutton 709.

Upon operation of submit button 708, the information contained withinthe form is returned from the supplier 121 over the world wide web 100back to the service provider 121.

In response to receiving information of the type illustrated in FIG. 7,the administration process 406 populates database 402 with the texturalinformation and populates image bank 405 with appropriate graphicalinformation. The administration process 406 interrogates the nature ofthe graphical information that has been submitted to ensure that theinformation has been conveyed in an acceptable protocol. If a judgementis made to the effect that the protocol is not appropriate, the supplieris contacted and invited to make an alternative submission. Onceappropriate graphical information has been received by administrationprocess 406 it is processed in order to render it into representationsthat are appropriate for the particular platforms that are being served.Thus, in response to receiving a single graphical image, relating toparticular campaign, the administration process processes this graphicalinformation in order to produce a graphical image appropriate for a webbrowser, with a further graphical image being produced that isappropriate for a web television, a further graphical image beingproduced that is appropriate for a WAP enabled mobile telephone and afurther graphical image being produced that is appropriate for ahandheld computer. These four (or more) images are then written tospecific files and held within image bank 405.

After writing the graphical images to the image bank 405, image table504 is populated with details as to the specific file locations for theimages. Similarly, display table 503 is populated with a uniqueidentification for the campaign, along with the title, description andURL provided by the supplier. Similarly, table 502 is populatedidentifying the specific campaign, the keyword identified at 701 and thebid identified at 704. Thus, in this specific example, supplier 112 hasexpressed an interest in the keyword “saxophone”. Supplier 112 hasprovided a graphical image that identifies its logo in an acceptableform. This graphical image has been processed to present the graphicalimage in the four representations being considered for this specificexample. Furthermore, textural information has been written to displaytable 503 and a bid of forty cents has been written to field 524 oftable 502. Thus, in response to a search on the keyword “saxophone”being initiated by a user, an appropriately indexed version of table 502allows the keyword to be filtered in combination with an orderingexercise in order to place campaigns with the highest bids at the top ofthe list.

After database 402 and image bank 405 have been populated, it ispossible for a user, such as user 101, to perform a search. Serviceprovider 121 is contacted via an appropriate URL, resulting in a pagebeing returned to user 101 and being displayed on display unit 101 a, asshown in FIG. 8. The user is invited to type a keyword at position 801and then return the information back to the service provider 121. Thus,for example, a user may return the keyword “cars” resulting in a searchbeing performed to return campaign related information for the keyword“cars” presented in a ranking determined by bid values established bysuppliers.

In order to perform the search, table 502 is re-indexed as shown in FIG.9. In table 502, field 521 defining the campaign identification is theprimary key and the table is ordered in an ascending fashion with thecampaign identifications being place in numerical order, starting fromthe lowest and extending to the highest. This ordering is merely areflection of the order in which the entries are created and does notassist in terms of the searching operation.

In order to perform a search, the table is re-indexed with the keywordentry at 523 establishing the main filtering term and may therefore beconsidered as the primary entry as shown at 923 in FIG. 9. The queryalso includes the bid value at 924 and the campaign uniqueidentification at 921. For the purposes of this query, the supplierentry is not required and is therefore not included in the query.

Thus, the query results in a table being produced in which the keywordsare presented alphabetically. A filtering operation is now performed inorder to select campaigns that relate to the specific keyword. Thus, thefiltering operation results in a list being produced of all campaignsconcerning the keyword “cars”. The operation now refers to the secondfield 924 concerning bids and organises the listing in accordance withbid values in descending order. Thus, the campaign with the highest bidvalue is placed at the top of the list, followed by the next andcontinuing until the least highest bid. For bids of equal value, furtherordering may be exercised in terms of campaign ID, such that the longestrunning campaigns are placed towards the top or in accordance with anyother criteria.

Thus, as a consequence of the searching operation, all campaignsrelating to the particular keyword have been selected and then placed inbid order. This results in a list of campaign identifications which isused to relate to display table 503 and is used to relate to image table504. Thus, each identified campaign results in its specific title,descriptions and URL being read from display table 503 while maintainingthe ranking established by the query shown in FIG. 9. In addition, animage is read from image table 504. The particular image read isdetermined by the campaign identification and is also determined by anindication of the nature of the equipment available to the requestinguser. The appropriate graphical information is then associated with thetextural information, a page of entries is assembled by image conversionprocess 404 and then the page of information is sent to the serverprocess 403 allowing it to be despatched to the user in the appropriateformat.

The user request described with respect to FIG. 8 was initiated from auser's personal computer. As a result of this search, the search resultsare returned back to the user's computer and displayed on monitor 101 aas illustrated in FIG. 10. Thus, the searched information consists of aplurality of entries 1001, 1002, 1003 and 1004 etc. Each entry such asentry 1001, includes a textural component 1011, read from database 402and a graphical logo 1012 read from image bank 405. Similarly, entry1002 includes a textural component 1013 and a logo 1014. Entry 1003includes a textural component 1015 and a logo 1016. Similarly, entry1004 includes a textural component 1017 and a logo 1018. Throughadvertising a marketing, logos 1012, 1014, 1016 and 1018 will haveattained a significant degree of recognition and goodwill. Consequently,users are encouraged to make swift selections based on the easilyrecognisable graphical representations, thereby enhancing the serviceprovided by the service provider.

The image shown in FIG. 10 has been read from file 608 for display on aconventional web browser executed by a personal computer. Alternatively,the information may be accessed by a web television 1101 as illustratedin FIG. 11. Television sets have a lower definition than most moderncomputer monitors, therefore the amount of information contained withina single window is less. However, for the same search, the same texturalinformation is displayed. Thus, if viewing on a web television as shownin FIG. 11 textural information 1102 is derived from display table 503and the exact same locations are read as would have been the case hadthe information been displayed on a computer system as shown in FIG. 10.However, for the computer system shown in FIG. 10, the graphicalinformation is derived from file 608 whereas for the web television, inorder to achieve a similar effect, the image information is read fromfile 609.

Other graphical display devices are shown in the form of a WAP enabledmobile telephone in FIG. 12A and a hand held computer in FIG. 12B.Again, graphical information 1201 is shown on the WAP enabled mobilephone. However, whereas the textural information 1202 is derived fromexactly the same source as textural information 1102, the graphical wageis derived from file 610 and then combined with the textural informationby the image conversion process 404. Similarly, the hand held computershown in FIG. 12B displays graphical information 1211 with texturalinformation 1212. The textural information is derived from exactly thesame place as the textural information 1202 and 1102 but on thisoccasion the graphical information is read from file 611.

It is to be appreciated that the term ‘graphical image’ as usedthroughout the specification is not limited to logos. Rather, it can beany image which is used as a trademark and as such could even be astylised word identifying a particular supplier.

Having described a particular preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, it is to be appreciated that the embodiment in question isexemplary only and that variations and modifications such as will occurto those possessed of the appropriate knowledge and skills may be madewithout departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the appended claims.

1. A computerized apparatus configured to identify commercial suppliersin response to a keyword, the computerized apparatus comprising: aninput module arranged to receive an input keyword; a searching moduleconfigured to search a database indexed with respect to keywords toidentify text items related to the input keyword for display, each textitem regarding one commercial supplier of a plurality of commercialsuppliers; an image store for storing graphical images, the graphicalimages provided to the image store independent of the text items relatedto the input keyword being identified, each graphical image identifyingor being associated with one of the commercial suppliers, wherein eachgraphical image is linked with a respective one of the identified textitems to form a respective stored results entry, the stored resultsentry in use being arranged to present the text item and the graphicalimage for simultaneous display; and a server configured to supply datadefining a displayable list of the stored results entries that includethe text items related to the input keyword and the graphical imageslinked thereto, such that when the displayable list of the storedresults entries is displayed, a user may readily identify a desiredcommercial supplier from the displayable list of stored results entries,based upon the graphical image of each stored results entry.
 2. Thecomputerized apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input module isa computer, a web-enabled television, a mobile telephone or a hand-heldcomputer.
 3. The computerized apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe searching module includes a relational database with a plurality ofrelated tables.
 4. The computerized apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the image store is arranged to store representations of logos.5. The computerized apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the imagestore is arranged to store logos in a plurality of formats.
 6. Thecomputerized apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the formats areappropriate for any one of a set of devices comprising a personalcomputer, a web television, a mobile phone, a hand-held computer and anycombination thereof.
 7. The computerized apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the server combines the graphical images with textual data of atype compatible with equipment of the requesting user.
 8. Thecomputerized apparatus according to claim 1, additionally comprising anaccounting module for recording a charge to at least one of thecommercial suppliers, in response to a user making contact with the atleast one commercial supplier in response to receiving details of asearch.
 9. The computerized apparatus according to claim 1, wherein eachof the text items are ranked with respect to a bid value associated witha stored keyword.
 10. The computerized apparatus according to claim 9,including an amendment module for allowing the commercial suppliers tospecify and amend the bid values.
 11. A method of identifying commercialsuppliers in response to a keyword, the method being performed by acomputerized apparatus linked to a communication network, the methodcomprising: receiving a keyword from a location along the communicationnetwork; searching an index of keywords to identify the keyword and anytextual items associated therewith; linking each of a plurality ofdisplayable graphical images, which are stored in the computerizedapparatus, wherein each of the displayable graphical images identifiesor is associated with a commercial supplier and each of the displayablegraphical images is provided to the computerized apparatus independentof any textual items being identified, to a respective one of thetextual items, so as to form stored results entries, each stored resultsentry being arranged to present the textual item and a displayablegraphical image linked to the textual item, for simultaneous display;and producing a displayable output list of the stored results entriesincluding the textual items that were identified from the search of theindex of keywords and the displayable graphical images linked thereto,such that when the displayable output list is displayed on a computerassociated with a user, the computer linked to the communicationnetwork, the user is enabled to readily identify a desired commercialsupplier from the displayable graphical images in the displayeddisplayable output list.
 12. The method according to claim 11, whereinreceiving the keyword from a location along the communication networkcomprises receiving the keyword from one of the group comprising acomputer, a web-enabled television, a mobile telephone and a hand-heldcomputer.
 13. The method according to claim 11, wherein searching theindex of keywords comprises searching an index of keywords on arelational database.
 14. The method according to claim 11, wherein eachof the displayable graphical images takes the form of a logo.
 15. Themethod according to claim 14, further comprising storing the logos in aplurality of different formats.
 16. The method according to claim 15,wherein the formats are appropriate for at least one of the groupcomprising a personal computer, a web television, a mobile phone, ahand-held computer and any combination thereof.
 17. The method accordingto claim 11, further comprising combining at least one of thedisplayable graphical images with textual data, the combined at leastone displayable graphical image being compatible with equipment of arequesting user.
 18. The method according to claim 11, furthercomprising recording a charge to at least one of the commercialsuppliers in response to a user making contact with the at least onecommercial supplier as a consequence of receiving details of a search.19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising ranking eachtextual item in a search with respect to a bid value associated with thetextual item, the bid value provided by the commercial supplierassociated with each textual item.
 20. The method according to claim 19,further comprising enabling the commercial suppliers to specify andamend the bid values.
 21. The computer-readable medium havingcomputer-readable instructions executable by a computer such that, whenexecuting the instructions, a computer will perform the steps of:receiving a keyword; searching an index of keywords to identify thereceived keyword and any textual items associated therewith; linkingeach of a plurality of displayable graphical images, provided to thecomputerized apparatus independent of any textual items beingidentified, wherein the displayable graphical images are stored togetherin an image bank and each of the displayable graphical images identifiesor is associated with a commercial supplier, to a respective one of theidentified textual items, so as to form stored results entries, eachstored results entry being arranged to present the textual item and adisplayable graphical image for simultaneous display; and producing adisplayable output list of the stored results entries, that include thetextual items corresponding to the received keyword and the displayablegraphical images linked thereto, such that when the displayable outputlist is displayed, a user may readily identify a desired commercialsupplier from the displayable graphical images in the displayable outputlist.
 22. The computer-readable medium having computer-readableinstructions according to claim 21, such that when executing theinstructions, a computer will also perform the step of processinginformation received from a remote computer, a web-enabled television, amobile telephone or a hand-held computer.
 23. The computer-readablemedium having computer-readable instructions according to claim 21, suchthat when executing the instructions, a computer will also perform thestep of searching keywords in an index of a relational database.
 24. Thecomputer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions accordingto claim 21, such that when executing the instructions, a computer willalso perform the step of generating displayable graphical image data inthe form of a logo.
 25. The computer-readable medium havingcomputer-readable instructions according to claim 24, such that whenexecuting the instructions, a computer will also perform the step ofstoring the logo in a plurality of different formats.
 26. Thecomputer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions accordingto claim 25, such that when executing the instructions, a computer willalso perform the step of storing graphical information representing thelogo in a format appropriate for a personal computer, a web television,a mobile phone or a hand-held computer or any combination thereof. 27.The computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructionsaccording to claim 21, such that when executing the instructions, acomputer will also perform the step of combining at least one of thedisplayable graphical images with textual data such that the combined atleast one displayable graphical image is compatible with equipment of arequesting user.
 28. The computer-readable medium havingcomputer-readable instructions according to claim 21, such that whenexecuting the instructions, a computer will also perform the step ofrecording a charge to at least one of the commercial suppliers inresponse to a user making contact with the at least one commercialsupplier as a consequence of receiving details of a search.
 29. Thecomputer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions accordingto claim 21, such that when executing the instructions, a computer willalso perform the step of ranking each textual item with respect to a bidvalue.
 30. The computer-readable medium having computer-readableinstructions according to claim 29, such that when executing theinstructions, a computer will also allow each of the commercialsuppliers to specify and amend the bid values for each associatedtextual item.
 31. A computerized search engine component comprising: akeyword indexed database of textual items, each textual item relating toone of a plurality of commercial suppliers; a database of graphicalimages, the graphical images provided to the database of graphicalimages independent of the textual items, each graphical image beingidentifiably associated with one of the plurality of commercialsuppliers; and a processor programmed to respond to a keyword searchrequest by: searching the keyword indexed database for relevant textualitems corresponding to a keyword of the keyword search request, andgenerating a results list of the relevant textual items and thecorresponding graphical images based on the corresponding commercialsuppliers.
 32. A computerized searching apparatus configured to identifycommercial suppliers in response to a keyword, the searching apparatuscomprising: a processor; a data input module in communication with theprocessor arranged to receive a keyword; a storage device incommunication with the processor, the storage device including adatabase of text items of information of commercial suppliers, each ofthe text items concerning one of the commercial suppliers and beingindexed with respect to at least one predetermined keyword; a searchingmodule in communication with the processor and configured for searchingthe database of text items to identify displayable text items related tothe keyword received by the data input module; an image store forstoring graphical images, in communication with the processor, each ofthe graphical images; (i) identifying at least one of the commercialsuppliers, (ii) linked with at least one of the text items, and (iii)provided to the image store independent of the text items; and an outputengine in communication with the processor, the output engine configuredfor outputting data defining a list of the identified displayable textitems obtained by the searching module and any respective linkedgraphical images from the image store.
 33. A computerized searchingapparatus configured to identify commercial suppliers in response to akeyword, the searching apparatus comprising: a processor; a data inputmodule in communication with the processor arranged to receive akeyword; a storage device in communication with the processor, thestorage device including a database of text items of information ofcommercial suppliers, each of the text items corresponding to one of thecommercial suppliers and being indexed with respect to at least onepredetermined keyword; a searching module in communication with theprocessor, the searching module configured for searching the database oftext items to identify displayable text items related to the keywordreceived by the data input module; an image store for storing graphicalrepresentations of logos, in communication with the processor, each ofthe graphical representations corresponding to one of the commercialsuppliers and provided to the image store independent of the text items,wherein each of the graphical representations is linked with arespective one of the text items; and an output engine in communicationwith the processor, the output engine configured for outputting datadefining a list of the identified displayable text items obtained by thesearching module and any respective linked graphical representationsfrom the image store.
 34. The apparatus according to claim 32,additionally comprising an accounting module in communication with theprocessor for recording a charge to a commercial supplier in response toa user making contact with the commercial supplier as a consequence ofreceiving details of a search.
 35. The apparatus according to claim 34,wherein each text item of the database of text items has a bid valueassociated with a corresponding keyword and wherein each text item isranked with respect to the bid value.
 36. The apparatus according toclaim 35, additionally comprising an amendment module in communicationwith the processor for enabling the commercial suppliers to specify andamend the bid values.
 37. The computerized apparatus according to claim1, wherein the image store comprises a database of the graphical images.38. A computerized apparatus configured to identify commercial suppliersin response to a keyword, the computerized apparatus comprising: inputmeans arranged to receive an input keyword; searching means configuredto search a database indexed with respect to keywords to identify textitems related to the input keyword for display, each text item regardingone commercial supplier of a plurality of commercial suppliers; imagestorage means for storing graphical images, each graphical imageidentifying or being associated with one of the commercial suppliers,and each graphical image being provided to the image storage meansindependent of the text items; linking means configured to link eachgraphical image with a respective one of the text items to form storedresults entries, the stored results entries being arranged to presentthe text item and corresponding graphical image for simultaneousdisplay; and a server configured to supply data defining a displayablelist of the stored results entries, that include the text itemscorresponding to the input and the graphical images linked thereto, suchthat when the displayable list of the stored results entries isdisplayed, a user may readily identify a desired commercial supplierfrom the displayable list of stored results entries, based upon thegraphical image of each stored results entry.
 39. A computerizedsearching apparatus configured to identify commercial suppliers inresponse to a keyword, the searching apparatus comprising: a processor;a data input device in communication with the processor arranged toreceive a keyword; and a search engine device in communication with theprocessor comprising: a database of text items of information ofcommercial suppliers, each of the text items corresponding to one of thecommercial suppliers and being indexed with respect to at least onepredetermined keyword; searching means operatively coupled to thedatabase of text items and the data input device, the searching meansconfigured for searching the database to identify displayable text itemsrelated to the keyword received by the data input device; image storagemeans for storing graphical images, each of the graphical images: (i)identifying at least one commercial supplier, (ii) linked with at leastone of the text items, and (iii) provided to the image store independentof the text items; and linking means operatively connected to the imagestorage means, the linking means being configured to link each graphicalimage in the image storage means with a respective one of the textitems; and an output engine operatively coupled to the searching means,the output engine configured for outputting data defining a list of theidentified displayable text items and any respective linked graphicalimages.
 40. The computerized apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thegraphical images provided to the image store were sent from a terminalassociated with the commercial supplier identified or associated witheach graphical image.